The Tory Chief Whip Hasresigned...can Truss Carry On?

[sp1814]

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-10-19/conservative-chief-whip-resigns-in-further-blow-to-pm-liz-truss

[Gromit]

Not sure what can happen next Naomi24?
The Tories aren’t going to throw in the towel - they have a 76 seat majority.
The reset button is worn out, and the Commons is full of talentless people. We will have to endure more before they are put out of their misery.

[Gromit]

PP
// he has unresigned hasnt he //

Wendy Morton has unresigned.

[drmorgans]

If they decide they actually did want to go would they deunresign?

[Peter Pedant]

The next 20 months will be like watching someone die of an incurable disease.
but wiv more thrashing around and screaming

[jim360]

// If they decide they actually did want to go would they deunresign? //

Before too long they'll be ex-non-anti-de-unresigning!

[naomi24]

Gromit, They have a 76 seat majority now but if they really think they're going to retain all those Red Wall seats that Boris Johnson won for them they're sadly mistaken because they won't. Even with him still at the helm and Brexit done, a considerable number of those MPs would have been on the dole queue - but even more so now he's gone. As for being put out of our misery, a General Election (which I think must be inevitable now) won't do that either because Labour is weak, ineffectual and untrustworthy, and Conservative voters have been left out on a limb with no one to vote for. After the turmoil of the past few years the one thing the country needed was stability but the pathetic, petty, spiteful stupidity that led to the rejection of the only real leader sitting in the Commons today has created nothing but the prospect of a mish mash of a disjointed coalition mob and the on-going disillusionment and uncertainty that will inevitably produce. Utter madness!

[sp1814]

My prediction (for what it's worth):

There won't be a General Election even if there's a change in leader as MPs would have to vote for this and at the moment the Tories absolutely DO NOT want an election.

Jeremy Hunt stays on as 'caretaker PM'.

...or not.

[THECORBYLOON]

"There won't be a General Election even if there's a change in leader as MPs would have to vote for this"

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed and the PM can call an election.

[sp1814]

This Boris Johnson thing...we need to avoid misremembering the recent past. Boris Johnson's approval rating tanked amongst voters.

https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/boris-johnson-approval-rating

He'd become an election liability because the public questioned his judgement and his relationship to the truth.

The country had enough. Still popular amongst Tory activists, but you can't rely on them alone.

Johnson was (and is) an extraordinary campaigner, but he's not a great leader.

[sp1814]

TCL

I thought that too, but heard on the News Agents podcasts that MPs would have to vote to call an early election.

I've done some digging and found:

A parliamentary motion of no confidence in the Government, which can be tabled by the opposition, may also trigger an election.[i

]If it passes – which would require a simple majority of the Commons’ 650 MPs – the most likely outcome is that a general election is triggered and Parliament dissolved.[i]

(From https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-who-call-labour-force-uk-vote-when-next-explained-19211)46

[naomi24]

SP, I'm not a 'Tory activist' but I know a lot of people who vote Tory - and I don't know one who wanted Boris to go. His departure was engineered - and not by the electorate.

[ToraToraTora]

naomi: "a General Election (which I think must be inevitable now)" - how is that inevitable? There is no way the Tories will call one now and there is no way of forcing one.

[bhg481]

In my circle of friends, all Tory voters, not one of them wanted Boris as leader.

[THECORBYLOON]

The difference is the Opposition can use a vote of no-cofidence to begin the process to force a General election at a time beneficial to them but the PM can now call an election at any time.

From your link,

'As explained on parliament.uk, the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 “revived the power of the monarch to dissolve Parliament, at the request of the prime minister of the day” when it replaced the Fixed-term Parliaments Act.

Given that the monarch exercises this power at the request of the prime minister, ***this essentially means the prime minister can choose when to call a general election.'*** [emphasis added]

[sp1814]

naomi24

"SP, I'm not a 'Tory activist' but I know a lot of people who vote Tory - and I don't know one who wanted Boris to go. His departure was engineered - and not by the electorate."

Your circle of friends isn't representative of the wider electorate.

His removal was engineered because whilst he was still well-regarded amongst some Tory voters, he'd become an election liability.

[sp1814]

TCL

Okay - but I think that Truss would be insane to call a GE at the moment.

[pimplyteen]

Yes Boris's departure was engineered, by him alone. And had the electorate had a say he would still have gone.

[THECORBYLOON]

TORATORATORA, "there is no way of forcing [a General Election.]"

A successful vote of No Confidence in the Government is unlikely but it is not impossible.

[FatticusInch]

naomi24
//Labour is weak, ineffectual and untrustworthy//

PMSL, again, in comparison to what?
Do tell?!

[FatticusInch]

ToraToraTora
//naomi: "a General Election (which I think must be inevitable now)" - how is that inevitable? There is no way the Tories will call one now and there is no way of forcing one//

We’re in uncharted territory and no one has ever seen an implosion and catastrophe like this.
In line with all your previous questions about ‘how can they do that’ and ‘by what mechanism’ you’d be well advised to keep schtum because they all came to fruition shortly after.
Your propensity to look foolish in light of the ‘just voted for Liz’ and she’s knocking it out of the park rubbish aged well, didn’t they?